Mobile computing terminal with more than one lock screen and method of using the same

ABSTRACT

A method and a system for displaying information and content in a lock screen system having a plurality of screens so as to provide a screen lock for preventing an unintended input of a user terminal device, and a computer-readable recording medium. The method includes setting information and content on a plurality of lock screen, displaying the plurality of lock screens, providing a screen movement between the plurality of lock screens, executing an existing external application so as to provide detailed information for the information and content displayed on the plurality of lock screens, unlocking the plurality of lock screens, and posting an advertisement on a part of the plurality of lock screens. Users can easily confirm simple information and content and use the as a new medium and means for expressing themselves by setting the lock screen windows according to the personalities of the users.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE TO ANY PRIORITY APPLICATIONS

Any and all applications for which a foreign or domestic priority claimis identified in the Application Data Sheet as filed with the presentapplication are hereby incorporated by reference under 37 CFR 1.57.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to the configuration and operation of alock screen, and more particularly, to a lock screen providing method ofdisplaying information or pieces of content using a plurality of lockscreen windows, and a terminal device in which the method isimplemented.

BACKGROUND ART

Mobile phones have become popular, in which smart phones having a touchscreen applied thereto have become the mainstream. Smart phones use alock screen to prevent “unintended execution of a function” that mayoccur when smartphones are in a pocket or bag. A user can unlock alocked screen by performing a specific input, for example, by flickingthe screen or pressing an unlock button. After the locked screen isunlocked, the user can use a desired smart phone function. Moreparticularly, the lock screen that is unlocked only when a password orspecific pattern is input is used as a main means for protectingpersonal privacy.

DISCLOSURE Technical Problem

The lock screen is useful against the unintended execution of a functionor for the protection of privacy, but it is inconvenient for a user tounlock the lock screen every time when checking a simple form ofinformation, such as weather or a calendar. More particularly, it isinconvenient to unlock the screen in order to check frequentnotifications non-periodically generated, such as character messagereception notifications, application (app) update notifications ormessage reception notifications of a mobile messenger.

In addition, a related-art lock screen having a single screen is notsufficient to express a user's personality. The function of displaying,on the lock screen, not one sheet of photograph but several sheets ofphotographs in a gallery of a cellular phone or displaying a matter ofinterest on the lock screen provides the user with a space for personalexpression, and enables the user to create a personalized lock screen.

An aspect of the present invention is directed to provide a system andan operating method of a lock screen including a plurality of screens onwhich simple information can be easily recognized and which can bedefined suitable for user taste, and to provide a method of exposinguser-friendly advertisement on a system having the lock screen operatingtherein.

Hereinafter, for ease of description, the term “content” will be used asa comprehensive meaning including text information, images, music andmoving pictures that can be displayed on a lock screen.

Technical Solution

The major operations of the present invention for realizing theforegoing objects are as follows.

According to an embodiment of the invention, provided is a method ofproviding a lock screen including a plurality of screens on a terminaldevice. The method includes the following steps of: (a) in response to apredetermined lock condition being sensed, transferring, at the terminaldevice, to a locked state and displaying a first lock screen; (b) inresponse to a predetermined first gesture being input while the firstlock screen is being displayed, transferring to an unlocked state; and(c) in response to a predetermined second gesture being input while thefirst lock screen is being displayed, displaying a second lock screendifferent from the first lock screen.

The method may further include the steps of: receiving information abouta piece of content to be displayed onto the first or second lock screen;receiving information about a specific area of the first or second lockscreen in which the content is to be displayed; and mapping the specificarea to the content so that the content is displayed in the specificarea.

The method may further include the steps of: in order to display thefirst or second lock screen, detecting a source of the content from theinformation about the content; and receiving the content transmittedfrom the source of the content at every predetermined period orreceiving the content transmitted from the source of the content when analarm event for the content occurs, and updating a database of theterminal device.

The method may further include the step of: in order to provide detailedviewing of a piece of content disposed on the lock screen, executing apredetermined related application corresponding to the content, whencoordinates of a start point of a user touch input that is input whilethe first or second lock screen is being displayed exist within the areain which the content is displayed and coordinates of an end point of theuser touch input exist within a predetermined execution area displayedon the first or second lock screen window.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the method mayfurther include the steps of: adding a third lock screen including anadvertisement display area in which a piece of advertisement content isdisplayed; receiving the advertisement content transmitted from anadvertisement providing server; storing the transmitted advertisementcontent in the DB of the terminal device; and displaying theadvertisement content in the advertisement display area.

The step of receiving the advertisement content transmitted from theadvertisement providing server may include: extracting a core keyword byanalyzing content displayed on the lock screen, and transmitting thecore keyword to the advertisement providing server; and receiving theadvertisement content transmitted from the advertisement providingserver. The advertisement content is a customized content correspondingto the core keyword.

The method may further include, in response to a selection request forthe advertisement content being input, loading a landing page of theadvertisement content by driving a web browser. The method may furtherinclude calculating a number of times that the advertisement content isexposed or a number of times of movement to the advertisement landingpage; and transmitting the calculated number of times to theadvertisement providing server.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, provided is aterminal device including: a touch screen sensing a touch input by auser; one or more processors; and a memory storing a program executed bythe one or more processors. When the program is executed by the one ormore processors, the program causes the terminal device to perform themethod as described above.

According to an embodiment of the invention, provided is acomputer-readable recording medium in which a program for performing themethod as described above.

Detailed features of other embodiments will be apparent from thedetailed description and the accompanying drawings.

Advantageous Effects

According to the present invention, a lock screen of the related-artterminal device including a single screen can be including a pluralityof screens, and thus all information that a user frequently identifiedcan be displayed on a plurality of lock screens. Accordingly, a methodis provided in which information that the user desires can be quicklyidentified without performing frequent unlocking.

Further, the user can directly set a piece of content to be displayed ona plurality of lock screens, and thus a lock screen personalized foreach user can be configured. Accordingly, the user can reduce the accessroutine of a piece of content frequently read by the user, and the lockscreen can be used as a personal display space in which the user's ownpersonality exposes to another person.

Further, an advertisement can be displayed on some of a plurality oflock screens, and thus the lock screens can be act as a user-friendlyadvertisement platform. In addition, the lock screens can be act as anew content transmission medium such as a personalized electronicmagazine using lock screen windows.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a screen in which a lock screen is setin a terminal device;

FIG. 2 schematically illustrates an entire system configuration forexposing pieces of content and advertisement on a plurality of lockscreens according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates the internal configuration of a lock screen systemaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates a screen on which predetermined pieces of content areset on the lock screen according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIGS. 5A, 5B and 5C illustrate screen views relating to a method ofdisposing a piece of content selected from the lock screen settingwindow of FIG. 4 on a lock screen according to an embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 6 illustrates a method of performing detailed viewing of a piece ofcontent mapped to a user selected area on a lock screen according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 illustrates a method of displaying a virtual electronic book on alock screen having a single screen, in which pieces of content aredisplayed on the virtual electronic book, according to an embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIGS. 8A and 8B illustrate touch screen gestures relating to a method ofdetermining screen movement and unlocking on a lock screen including aplurality of screens according to an embodiment of the presentinvention; and

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of a lock screenaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described belowin detail with reference to the accompanying drawings since the presentinvention may have various changes in forms and have a variety ofembodiments. It is to be understood, however, that the presentdescription is not intended to limit the invention to those exemplaryembodiments. On the contrary, the invention is intended to cover notonly the exemplary embodiments, but also various alternatives,modifications, equivalents and other embodiments that may be includedwithin the spirit and scope of the invention. In the followingdescription of the present invention, detailed descriptions of knownfunctions and components incorporated herein will be omitted in the casethat the subject matter of the present invention is rendered unclear.

It will be understood that although the terms “first”, “second”, etc.are used herein to describe various elements, these elements should notbe limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish oneelement from another element.

The terms used in this application are used to only describe specificembodiments and are not intended to restrict the present invention. Anexpression of the singular number includes an expression of the pluralnumber unless clearly defined otherwise in the context.

It will be further understood that the terms “comprise”, “include,”“have” and variations thereof, when used herein, specify the presence ofstated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components orcombinations thereof, but do not preclude the presence or addition ofone or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, or combinations thereof.

It will be understood that when an element transmits data to anotherelement, it can directly transmit to the other element or at least oneintervening element may be present. In contrast, when an element“directly transmits” data to another element, there are no interveningelements present.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention able tospecifically realizing the principle of a lock screen system including aplurality of screen windows will be described with reference to theaccompanying drawings. The same reference numerals provided in eachdrawing denote the same components.

In general, a lock screen system for preventing the execution of anunintended function is included in a mobile terminal. FIG. 1 illustratesa related-art lock screen displayed when a mobile terminal is in thelocked state, in which the mobile terminal is unlocked when a touchgesture displayed on the screen, the touch contact of which is movablein an arrow direction, is input.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the related-art lock screen system may displayan image set by a user or a basic background image on a lock screen.Unlike the related-art lock screen system including a single screen,when a plurality of lock screens is provided as proposed in the presentinvention, all pieces of content frequently checked by the user can bedisplayed on the plurality of lock screens regardless of the kind ornumber of the pieces of content. Thus, the content can be checked in asimplified manner, and various pieces of content can be used as meansfor expressing user's personality. Further, personalized and customizedadvertisements are exposed on some lock screens of the plurality of lockscreens, so that the lock screens can serve as an advertisement platformthat is more user-friendly than other types of lock screens on whichonly advertisements are exposed.

Entire Configuration of System

FIG. 2 schematically illustrates an entire system configuration fordisplaying pieces of content to be set by a user on a plurality of lockscreens according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the lock screen system according to anembodiment of the present invention is connected to a communicationnetwork 100, terminal devices 200, content providing servers 300 andadvertisement providing servers 400, to perform a method of providing alock screen according to the technical spirit of the present invention.

The communication network 100 may be configured regardless of any typesuch as wire or wireless communication, and generally refers to allcommunication networks where data transmission is possible.

The terminal devices 200 generally refer to not only mobile terminalsbut also all devices to which a lock screen can be applied even if theyare fixed devices such as PCs, TVs and LFDs.

The lock screen system according to an embodiment of the presentinvention may indicate a computer-readable program executed in theterminal device 200 or a kind of module including a memory in which theprogram is stored and/or a processor for executing the program. The lockscreen system provides a method of displaying, on a plurality of lockscreens, pieces of content stored in a local storage of the terminaldevice 200 or data transmitted through the communication network 100from the content providing server 300 or the advertisement providingserver 400, and performing an operation based on a user input valueselected from among movement between lock screens, detailed viewing ofpieces of content and unlocking.

Configuration of Terminal Device

FIG. 3 illustrates the internal configuration of a lock screen systemfor providing a plurality of lock screens according to an embodiment ofthe present invention.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the terminal device 200 includes a lock screensystem including a controller 210, a communication unit 220, a lockscreen setting unit 230, a lock screen display unit 240, a user inputreading unit 250, an advertisement effect calculation unit 260, arelated application (app) calling unit 270, and a content and/oradvertisement content storage database (DB) 280.

The related application calling unit 270 may call not only basicapplications installed in the terminal device but also all installedapplications that a user downloaded from a predetermined applicationsproviding server (e.g., Apple's App Store server, etc.).

The controller 210 updates the DB 280 of the terminal device with piecesof recent content periodically or when an alarm event occurs based on abasic setting value managed in the lock screen setting unit 230 or auser specified set value. A source for a piece of content oradvertisement content necessary to be updated may be a local storagedevice of the terminal device, a program executed in the terminaldevice, or one of external servers connected through the communicationunit 220. More particularly, the content or advertisement content ofwhich source is an external server may be updated by being periodicallytransmitted from a rich site summary (RSS) feed that may be referred toas uniform resource locator (URL) or uniform resource identifier (URI),by being transmitted through periodic performance of requests andresponses according to a web communication protocol (HTTP), or by beingnon-periodically transmitted through a push server connected to thecontent server or an alarm event system of the terminal device. As such,the source and updating method of a content or advertisement contentrequired to update the DB 280 may be determined in a lock screen settingstep to be described later.

The lock screen setting unit 230 receives information about a content tobe displayed on a lock screen and receives information about a specificarea on the lock screen, in which the content is to be displayed, to setmapping information about the content and the area. Meanwhile, theinformation about the content may include at least one of the source ofthe content, information required to execute an application related tothe content, and the updating method and period of the content. Theinformation about the specific area on the lock screen may include atleast one of a screen recognition factor for specifying a specific lockscreen among a plurality of lock screens, information about the positionat which the area is disposed in the specific lock screen, the lateraland longitudinal sizes of the area, and a zoom level when the content isdisplayed in the area.

The lock screen display unit 240 reads a piece of content oradvertisement content necessary for displaying a lock screen from the DB280 of the terminal device and displays the read content on the lockscreen according to a control command from the controller 210. In thisstate, the controller 210 can control the lock screen display unit 240to display a preferred lock screen (e.g., a first lock screen) by addinga screen recognition factor, such as the number of a lock screen to bedisplayed on a display device of the terminal device among a pluralityof lock screens, to the control command. When a user input is applied,the controller 210 may control the lock screen display unit 240 todisplay a second lock screen different from the first lock screen, tocall the execution of an external application, or to release the lockedstate of the terminal device, based on a reading result of the userinput reading unit 250.

The advertisement effect calculation unit 260 may calculate anadvertisement effect such as the number of times that a specificadvertisement is exposed on a plurality of lock screens, the number oftimes that detailed viewing of the advertisement is performed, or thenumber of times that a landing page of the advertisement is loaded,according to the control command from the controller 210, and transmitthe calculated advertisement effect to the advertisement providingserver 400 through the communication unit 220.

Lock Screen Setting Method

FIG. 4 illustrates an example screen on which a plurality of lockscreens are set according to an embodiment of the present invention.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when a user entersinto a lock screen setting step, selectable pieces of content aredisplayed on a screen 201 of the terminal device, as illustrated in FIG.4. When the user selects a specific piece of content, the lock screensetting step is transferred to a content display area setting step fordetermining the screen layout of lock screens as illustrated in FIG. 5.If a specific item of the selected content is to be additionallyselected, a specific item selection step may be further provided priorto the transfer to the content display area setting step. For example,when a picture item in FIG. 4 is selected, a step of selecting aspecific picture from a gallery of the terminal device 200 is firstperformed, and the content selection step is then transferred to a stepof setting an area in which the selected picture is to be displayed.

Meanwhile, the content selection step may further include a step ofdetermining a source of the content and an updating period of thecontent. The source of the content may be a local storage device of theterminal device, such as a picture gallery, a program executed in theterminal device, such as an event notification system, or one ofexternal servers connected through the communication unit 220, such as aweb service. The selected content may be updated periodically ornon-periodically, and the lock screen system may refer to the source ofthe content in order to update the content. The periodic contentupdating method may be provided in real time, in a time perioddetermined in the form of {second/minute/hour/day/date/month/year}, orin an infinite updating period. If the step of selecting the source ofthe content or the step of setting the updating method and period of thecontent is omitted, the source or period of the content may bedetermined as a default value provided by the lock screen system.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example in which predetermined ten pieces ofcontent are disposed over three pages. In the content display areasetting step, the user may select one of areas 241 in which the tenpieces of content are displayed as a display area of the content. Thatis, the selected content may be set to substitute for a piece of contentthat has been previously displayed in one of the areas in which the tenpieces of content are displayed. In addition, a new page may be addedwhile all of the ten pieces of content illustrated in FIG. 5 aremaintained, and the area 241 in which the selected content is to bedisplayed may be set on the added page. In such a manner, the user canadd a new page on a lock screen or delete an existing page. Thus, asillustrated in the example of FIG. 5, various types of content can befreely set on a lock screen including one or more pages.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, in the settingstep of FIG. 5, the user may select the display area 241 of the content,set on the lock screen, as a specific display area in a default layoutprovided from the lock screen system, and the position or size of thedisplay area of the content may be arbitrarily adjusted. First, as anembodiment of the former, when a new page is added to the lock screen,the user may select one of predetermined layout forms, and an area inwhich the content is to be displayed may be selected in the selectedlayout form. The predetermined layout form may be a form such as thesecond or third page of FIG. 5, an empty page with no specific form, orany layout different from the forms described above. Meanwhile, as anembodiment of the latter, the user may input a touch onto an empty areaof the lock screen and then drag the touch up to a specific point,thereby setting a quadrangular display area having a diagonal from theinitial touch start point to the last touch end point. The quadrangulardisplay area may be used as an area in which the selected content isdisplayed. More particularly, the empty area may be provided by addingan empty page having no specific form or by selectively deleting aspecific display area from the existing layout.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the informationobtained by mapping the selected content to the set display area can bemanaged by the lock screen system, and may be referred in order todisplay a specific piece of content in a specific screen area in amethod of displaying a lock screen, which will be described later.

Lock Screen Display Method

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when the terminaldevice 200 senses a predetermined lock condition, the state of theterminal device 200 is transferred to a locked state, and a first lockscreen may be displayed. For example, when any input is not applied froma user for a predetermined period or more, when a predetermined powerbutton provided in the terminal device 200 is pressed by the user in astate in which the terminal device 200 is turned on to turn off ascreen, or when a predetermined lock button provided in the terminaldevice 200 is pressed, the terminal device 200 may sense this as thepredetermined lock condition. In the locked state, the terminal device200 may display the first lock screen. As described later, the terminaldevice 200 may not react with another input except an unlocking gesture,a gesture for transfer to a second lock screen or a gesture for detailedviewing of content. As described above, a predetermined content may bedisplayed on the first lock screen by the user.

Meanwhile, when a predetermined first gesture is input while the firstlock screen is being displayed, the state of the terminal device 200 maybe transferred to an unlocked state. Here, the unlocked state mayindicate a state in which a lock for preventing the execution of afunction of the terminal device 200 due to a user's unintended input orprotecting privacy is released so that functions provided by theterminal device 200 can be completely used. The first gesture forunlocking will be described in detail later in an “unlocking method”that will be described later.

When the state of the terminal device 200 is transferred to a screenlocked state, the content that the user sets through the lock screensetting process of FIG. 5 is displayed as the first lock screen in thedisplay device of the terminal device 200. According to an ordinarymethod, when a plurality of lock screens are initially driven, a firstlock screen among the plurality of lock screens may be displayed, andfrom this time, a lock screen finally displayed in a previous lockcondition state may be displayed. That is, when a predetermined secondgesture is input while the first lock screen is being displayed, theterminal device 200 may display a second lock screen different from thefirst lock screen. When the second gesture is again input while thesecond lock screen is being displayed, the terminal device 200 maydisplay a third lock screen different from either the first lock screenor the second lock screen. When the first gesture described above isinput on the third lock screen, the state of the terminal device 200 maybe transferred to the unlocked state. When a predetermined locked stateis sensed after that time, the state of the terminal device 200 istransferred to the locked state, and the third lock screen displayedjust before the state of the terminal device 200 is transferred to theunlocked state is displayed in the display device of the terminal device200. The second gesture for moving through the lock screens will bedescribed in detail in “method of navigating through lock screens” to bedescribed later.

Meanwhile, when the amount of content displayed on each lock screen islarge, the corresponding content may be continuously added in thedisplay area specified in FIG. 5 and then scrolled in the display area,only a piece of summarized content may be displayed in the display area,or a piece of content reduced at a predetermined display magnificationmay be displayed in the display area. The screen display method may bedetermined in the initial setting provided in the present invention.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, a method maybe provided in which a virtual object is set in a screen, and aplurality of screens are displayed in the object, without displayingeach lock screens on the entire screen of the terminal device. As anembodiment of the method of displaying lock screens using the virtualobject, a virtual electronic book may be displayed, as illustrated inFIG. 7. Individual pages of the electronic book may be matched one byone to lock screens, thereby substituting for a plurality of lockscreens. In this embodiment, when a lock screen is moved, the entiredisplay of the terminal device is not changed, but only a virtualindividual page defined in the virtual object may be changed anddisplayed.

Lock Screen Navigation Method

According to an embodiment of the present invention, movement between aplurality of lock screens in a lock screen system may be provided usinga method of detecting a user input and moving, based on the detectedinput, a current lock screen to a next lock screen, a previous lockscreen, or a lock screen that a lock screen identifier indicates. Forexample, when a user touch gesture such as a screen flick that moves ina predetermined direction in the state in which a touch contact point ismaintained, a current screen may be moved to a next screen (leftdirection flick) or a previous screen (right direction flick). Thescreen moving method is not limited to the touch gesture such as thescreen flick, and may be provided in various forms including a method ofselecting a specific icon or button defined for the purpose of screenmovement, a touch gesture for drawing a numeral corresponding to ascreen number on a touch screen, and the like.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, a method ofsetting a virtual object in a lock screen and moving a plurality ofscreens in the object may be provided as illustrated in FIG. 7. As anexample, movement of a plurality of lock screens may be provided using amethod of displaying a virtual electronic book on the lock screen andturning pages of the electronic book. The movement between pages of thevirtual electronic book may be provided in various forms, using variousinput means such as a page flick, a specific icon or button, a specificgesture, and the like. As another example in which the virtual object isused in the method of providing a lock screen including a plurality ofscreens, movement through a plurality of lock screens may be providedusing a method of displaying a virtual three-dimensional cube androtating the display direction of the cube.

Content Detailed View Providing Method

A lock screen is to prevent an unintended touch input in terms of itsunique object, it is not preferable to use the related-art method ofperforming a simple touch selection input in order to provide a detailedview function for a piece of content displayed on a lock screen. This isbecause when the related-art method is applied to the lock screen, therefrequently occurs a case where an application related to the content isexecuted regardless of a user's intention.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when a piece ofcontent displayed on a lock screen is selected, a method of executing anapplication related to the content is provided in order to provide apiece of content that is more detailed than the displayed content. Forexample, when a detailed view of the selected content is executed byselecting a piece of content displayed on a lock screen, e.g. today'sweather, a weather application is called to provide detailed informationsuch as a forecast for each hour or week at the moment that the screenis unlocked.

To this end, FIG. 6 illustrates a method of calling an applicationrelated to a piece of content by dragging the content displayed on alock screen according to an embodiment of the present invention. Inorder to select and request an object on which a user desires to performa detailed view, the user performs dragging an interest content displayarea from an input start point 251 to a related application executionarea 252. The lock screen system, as illustrated in FIG. 3, provides amethod of detecting the existing external application execution commandfrom the user input reading unit 250, identifying a piece of contentcorresponding to the coordinates of the start point, and subsequentlycalling an external application for providing the content. Meanwhile,the application execution area 252 is not necessarily limited to anupper end of the lock screen, and may be disposed at any position on thelock screen. For helping intuitive understanding, the applicationexecution area may be displayed using a preferred descriptive phrase oricon.

Unlocking Method

FIG. 8 illustrates an example in which a lock screen movement input anda unlocking input are determined depending on the number of touchcontact points on a lock screen including a plurality of screens.According to an embodiment of the present invention, as illustrated inFIG. 8, a method may be provided in which a first gesture for touchingand flicking with two fingers is recognized as an unlocking command, anda second gesture for touching and flicking with one finger is recognizedas a lock screen navigation command. In this state, the first and secondgestures may be provided as other predetermined gestures as long as theyare different motions that can be distinguished from each other. Forexample, the first gesture for unlocking may be provided as a gesturefor performing unlocking when a long touch is applied to the lockscreen, and the second gesture for screen navigation may be provided asa gesture for touching and flicking with three fingers.

Meanwhile, according to another embodiment of the present invention, asillustrated in FIG. 9, a method may be provided in which, if the firstgesture for unlocking is input when the terminal device is set so thatthe screen is unlocked only when predetermined information such as apassword or movement pattern of a touch contact point is input, apassword or a touch pattern is input by a user, and the screen isunlocked only when the verification result of the password or touchpattern input by the user corresponds to a predetermined password ortouch pattern.

Advertisement Exposure Method

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a method may beprovided in which, when the terminal device is in the locked state, apiece of advertisement content transmitted from the advertisementproviding server 400 is displayed on some of a plurality of lockscreens. For example, in a state in which a lock screen including threepages is set as illustrated in FIG. 5, the lock screen system mayautomatically add a fourth page as a screen for advertisement exposure,and display the advertisement content transmitted from the advertisementproviding server 400.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, a preferredadvertisement keyword may be extracted by analyzing a piece of contentregistered in the lock screen set by a user, and a user customizedadvertisement may be received as a response by transmitting, to theadvertisement providing server 400, an advertisement request using theadvertisement keyword as a factor, to be exposed on a portion of thelock screen for advertisement exposure. User's personal information isnot transmitted to the advertisement providing server, and only akeyword for advertisement search, extracted from a piece of content setin the lock screen, is transmitted to the advertisement providingserver. Thus, the advertisement request and response method is apreferred method that can prevent the infringement of personal privacyand display a customized advertisement.

Meanwhile, the user may request an advertisement detailed view on anadvertisement exposure screen using a method similar to that illustratedin FIG. 6. In this state, the lock screen system may move to a landingpage of advertisement by executing a related application such as a webbrowser using the same method as in the detailed view requestprocessing. The number of times that the advertisement is exposed andthe number of times that the advertisement landing page is loaded may becalculated through the advertisement effect calculation unit 260, andthe calculated advertisement effect may be transmitted to theadvertisement providing server 400 through the communication unit 220.

Flow Control Method of Lock Screen

FIG. 9 illustrates, as an embodiment of the present invention, a flowcontrol method of a lock screen, which performs the lock screen displaymethod, the lock screen navigation method, the content detailed viewmethod and the unlocking method by receiving a user input when theterminal device 200 has transferred to the locked state by sensing apredetermined lock condition. A user may input a first gesture forunlocking, a second gesture for navigating a plurality of lock screens,and a third gesture for viewing in detail a specific piece of content.The first, second and third gestures may be provided as differentgestures that can be determined by the user input reading unit 250.

First, when the determination result of the received user input is thefirst gesture for unlocking, the lock screen providing method of thepresent invention may check whether a predetermined password or touchpattern exists before unlocking the terminal device. If thepredetermined password or touch pattern exists, a password or touchpattern is input. The state of the terminal device is transferred to theunlocked state only when the input password or touch pattern correspondsto the predetermined password or touch pattern. When the input passwordor touch pattern does not correspond to the predetermined password ortouch pattern, a password or touch pattern may be input again. Accordingto another embodiment of the present invention, when the step ofreceiving the first gesture and verifying the password is performed, theterminal device may execute a home application thereof whiletransferring to the unlocked state.

Meanwhile, when the second gesture for lock screen movement is input ina state in which a first lock screen that is one of a plurality of lockscreens is being displayed on the display device of the terminal device,the lock screen providing method may display a second lock screendifferent from the first lock screen on the display device of theterminal device. The second lock screen may be determined based on areading result of the second gesture among the plurality of lock screensas described in the lock screen navigation method.

When the determination result of the received user input is the thirdgesture for content detailed view, the lock screen providing method ofthe present invention may check whether a predetermined password ortouch pattern exists before a content detailed view is provided. If thepredetermined password or touch pattern exists, a password or touchpattern is input. The state of the terminal device is transferred to theunlocked state only when the input password or touch pattern correspondsto the predetermined password or touch pattern. When the input passwordor touch pattern does not correspond to the predetermined password ortouch pattern, a password or touch pattern may be input again. Accordingto another embodiment of the present invention, when the step ofreceiving the third gesture and verifying the password is performed, theterminal device may execute an application related to the content toprovide the content detailed view as the state of the terminal device istransferred to the unlocked state.

As described above, the method of the present invention may beimplemented in the form of computer-readable program commands to bestored in a computer-readable recording medium. The computer-readablerecording medium includes all kinds of recording devices where datareadable by a computer system are stored.

The program commands recoded in the media may be particularly designedand configured for the present invention or may be well known to thoseskilled in the art related to computer software.

Examples of the computer-readable recording medium include hardwaredevices, particularly configured to store and perform program commands,such as, magnetic media, such as a hard disk, a floppy disk, and amagnetic tape; optical media, such as a compact disk-read only memory(CD-ROM) and a digital versatile disc (DVD); magneto-optical media, suchas floptical disks; a read-only memory (ROM); a random access memory(RAM); and a flash memory. The medium may be a transmission medium, suchas an optical or metal line and a waveguide, including carriers fortransmitting a signal to designate a program command, a data structure,or the like. In addition, the computer-readable recording medium isdistributed in a computer system connected via a network so thatcomputer-readable codes can be stored and executed in a distributedmanner.

Examples of the program commands include not only machine languagesgenerated by compilers, but also high-level languages that may becarried out by a computer via an interpreter or Java bytecode.

The hardware device described above may be constructed so as to operateas one or more software modules for performing the operations of theembodiments of the present invention, and vice versa.

While the present invention has been illustrated and described withreference to the certain exemplary embodiments thereof, it will beunderstood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form anddetails may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scopeof the invention as defined by the appended claims. Therefore, theforegoing embodiments should be understood as being illustrative but notlimitative purposes. For example, some parts described as being locatedin a single physical entity can be implemented as being distributed to aplurality of physical devices. In the same fashion, some parts describedas being distributed to a plurality of physical devices can be locatedin a single physical entity.

The scope of the invention is defined not by the detailed description ofthe invention but by the appended claims, and all differences within thescope will be construed as being included in the present invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computing device comprising a touch screendisplay, the device comprising: a controller configured to cause thetouch screen display to present a lock screen pane when the computingdevice is locked in accordance with a predetermined lock condition.